Municipal solid waste (MSW) management in Brazil faces major challenges in order to meet the requirements proposed by the National Solid Waste Policy, which has been in force since 2010 and complicates decision-making, especially in small municipalities. In this context, sustainability indicators are important support tools that help in setting out performance actions for municipal sustainable development. The main objective of this article is to evaluate the four sustainability dimensions (social, environmental, economic, and legal/institutional) using sustainability indicators for MSW management in the Recife Metropolitan Region (RMR) in Northeast Brazil. To do this, the progress of the region was evaluated against the principal goals and guidelines proposed by solid waste plans and by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. It was found that some progress has been achieved in recent years, such as the closure of dumps, a reduction of the per capita MSW mass collected, and an increase in the coverage rate for solid household waste collection. However, selective collection and financial autonomy still fall well short of the region’s goals. According to the results of this study, municipalities in the RMR require more environmental education and joint actions involving government, the private sector, and the general population.
Despite the advances observed over the last decade, Brazil still suffers from the scarce use of recycled construction and demolition waste (RCDW). On the other hand, most of the roads in the country are unpaved and present low loading support. In this context, the construction of geosynthetic reinforced unpaved roads with RCDW could stimulate the market of recycled materials and increase the performance of these roads. This study aims to evaluate the mechanical damage of two types of geogrids due to in-field cyclic loading of RCDW. The simulation of three scenarios of damage revealed specific reduction factors for each geogrid, which could be easily used in project design. This study reinforces the importance of carrying out investigation of geogrid damage using the specific conditions (material, construction method and loading) of each work. Based on these findings, sustainable development can be implemented using RCDW and provide roads to the society with better operational performance.
This paper reports the results of three thin wythe precast sandwich panels tested under axial load. Panel reinforcements and shear connectors in the current state of precast sandwich panels in the civil construction context are evaluated. The authors measured displacement at two distinct panel heights as well as along the panel width to provide load–displacement behavior at the cross-section level and broaden the experimental data on the subject. The test results developed in this research showed good agreement with the results available in the literature. In addition, as concrete-wall panel strength equations have been linked to the compressive behavior of precast sandwich panels, a brief review of empirical formulae is also offered in this paper. Moreover, empirical data since 2005, on both concentrical and eccentrical load testing available in the literature, are also reported.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.